Boko Haram threat: FG to build border plaza

CALABAR -THE Federal Government has concluded plans to build border plaza across the country to check the influx of illegal immigrants especially during this period of security threat by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.


Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro who disclosed this in Calabar at the weekend while on a working visit to paramilitary formations under his ministry in Cross River State said the federal government considers the security of its citizenry very paramount.

Comrade Moro said the proposed border plaza is a way of beefing up security at the nation’s border areas adding that already about 1475 official and 1975 unofficial borders have been identified.
He said, “If we can effectively man our official borders, then we can very actively turn our attention to the irregular borders and I assure you that by the time we carry out this development, by the end of 2015, Nigeria will be a better place for Nigerians.”

The minister disclosed that with the ongoing reform in the country and particularly in his ministry, there will be a complete overhaul of the structure and functioning of prisons in Nigeria.
According to him, following the bilateral agreement Nigeria and some other countries had entered into, prisoners of Nigeria origin serving jail terms abroad would be transferred back home to complete their jail terms in Nigeria.

On the restructuring of prisons, he said, “The prisons generally are supposed to be correctional and reformatory centers where people come out of prisons and become useful citizens and properly integrated into the society, but today, we cannot talk about that simply because the successive governments have failed to provide the basic aspects of the correctional or vocational skills for prison inmates.

“So, we are taking the battle comprehensively hoping that by the time we carry out the reforms, which we are trying to do now, we will be able to be compare favourably with other prisons in other parts of the world.” (VANGUARD)